


never know your face but i always know it's you

by DeadHero



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Shapeshifting, g a y, i genuinely was tearing up from how soft this is while editing, theyre just so gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 19:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15322485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadHero/pseuds/DeadHero
Summary: shapeshifting!pete au i think i made in a buzzed haze





	never know your face but i always know it's you

The first clue was the frankly shocking amount of Vicodin in Rex Glass’ back pockets that Juno found while searching for a laser cutter.

When later, after Cassandra had been arrested and Min had gotten away, at Juno’s apartment, the detective deliberately didn't offer the not-a-Dark-Matters-agent a glass of whiskey because a) sharing a drink was a way Juno bonded and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be even closer with a thief and b) said thief was either a drug dealer or a drug addict (Juno was leaning toward the later). Rex leaned over Juno to pick up the bottle of whiskey, throwing manners out the window, and paused when Juno grabbed his wrist.

A short, informative conversation followed:

“I don't think you should be drinking that.”

“Oh? For what reason, detective?” A curling half-smile and a leaned back casualty.

“Oh, you know, in my experience having one drug in your system is enough, no need to get two addictions.”

Now an offended tilt of the head and hand curling toward the chest. “For heaven's sake, Juno, the Vicodin - which is what I can only imagine is to what you are referring - is for my pain.” An undignified snort. “Not that's any of your business, of course.”

Beyond that conversation, the rest of the evening is as one knows, with a kiss, another arrest, a getaway, and a stolen mask and heart. The last changed moment is also the next clue: a throwback wink with a faint, nausea-inducing shimmer of skin and bone rippling.

That clue made Juno more hooked on the thief, his two-day branded love now joined by his deep, distinctive curiosity to understand what that shimmer was.

Juno wouldn't get any closer to figuring it out until the next time he met Nureyev.

* * *

Juno almost blew his and Peter's cover the moment he stepped into the room where Engstrom and Peter already sat, pleasantly if not a little impatiently, chatting. As soon as he saw Duke Rose, Juno almost froze. He didn't recognize the man in front of him for a split second and almost turned tail and run. Then, due to the irritated presence of Engstrom's bodyguard behind him, Juno took a closer look.

The man had the same dark hair (albeit dusted in rose gold hairspray) and the same kind, glittering, cunning eyes that Juno could fall into forever. It was Peter, but with a completely new face. Juno was impressed that Peter could construct a new face out of what was probably some kind of high-end spirit gum under an hour.

Juno walked over and sat next to Duke, still a little nervous and annoyed at the whole mission but his gut-dropping fear from when he first walked in now fading.

When Juno confronted Peter about the secret codes he had found in the other's jacket (they were fucking doodles dear god this was the man he was falling in love with of course it was), he became just slightly mesmerized by the way Peter's face moved while talking and ended up staring.

“See something you like, darling?” Peter whispered as they walked back into the room.

Duke sat down and Juno leaned across and acted like he was brushing lint of Duke's suit. “Your mask is cool, did you use paste or gum or something?”

Peter didn't respond and as Juno started to frantically wonder how Engstrom was cheating, he couldn't help but wonder in the back of his mind why, before the final round, Duke had a small, amused expression, like he was having an inside joke with himself.

That was the third clue.

It wouldn't be for another year until Juno figured it out, after Miasma, after the hotel, after O’Flaherty, after Cerberus, and Juno wished...well, he wasn't sure what he wished but he knew that he hated it.

* * *

The fourth and final clue wasn't even really a clue. It was a dropping of defense, an allowance to vulnerability.

They had been getting ready for an undercover mission Juno needed to gather information for a recent case he had taken on. Peter was using a few of his connections to get them in, but they would never get there if Peter stayed in the bathroom for another hour getting ready.

There was a click hiss as the bathroom door slid open and suddenly Juno had absolutely zero complaints because he suddenly couldn't breathe. At first, it was the lean, tight cut of the revealing suit Peter had wrapped himself in. Then it was because Juno noticed a few things at once: Peter was shorter, by a good amount of inches, no longer towering over Juno like he so often did; his face was completely reconstructed like how Duke Rose's had been, the nose arcing differently, the cheekbones a little lower, the jaw set a little squarer; his pupils just a little bigger than they should've been.

It was the last thing that made Juno abandon his questions and anxiously walk over to Peter and start looking him over for any injuries or hurts. Peter laughed a little and then hissed as his jaw popped loudly. Juno was running his fingertips over Peter's face in an instant, rubbing a slight, soothing pressure into the muscle and bone. The man sighed and melted slightly into his lady's hands.

This went on for a few minutes until Peter straightened and placed a kiss on Juno's forehead, now the perfect height to do so.

“Well, that was nice,” Peter gave a small, tender smile. “Are you ready to go, dear?”

Juno nodded and gave the man a kiss and they left to go manipulate rich assholes while getting very drunk.

* * *

Make very drunk _incredibly_ drunk. It was a wonder the two of them even got in a cab and up the stairs to bed. After they'd gotten the needed information and Peter had... _persuaded_ Juno to record it down on his comm, they got very, very wasted on very, very expensive Terran liquor.

Now both were laying in bed, still in suit and dress, just reveling in the other's presence and occasionally giggling. It was in this relaxed state that Juno peppered kisses down Peter's jaw and became confused when it felt like skin. Then, he drunkenly realized that he had never asked Peter how he was shorter because that just made no sense. Anyone could get taller with heels or raised shoes, but shorter?

“Hey, hey, Nureyev.”

Peter blinked slowly up at Juno who had gotten up to his elbows and was peering over him. “Yes, Juno sweetheart?”

“Your face is fleshy.”

Peter laughed in a delighted, uninhibited way. “Won-wonderful detective work.” His teeth flashed in the low light and seemed even sharper than usual. Juno poked his jaw and then the teeth, hissing when his finger was actually pricked.

“How are your teeth pointier? And your….legs? Legs. Body? Shorter than usual?” Juno asked and then licked Peter's face. The thief made a mildly outraged sound and rubbed the spit off his face.

“If you had wanted to lick me, I can think of better places for that,” Peter nudged Juno with his hip. The detective was not deterred and kept staring in an intense, drunken way.

Peter pouted. “That's because I shifted my bones, Juno, do try to keep up.” He promptly closed his eyes and wiggled deeper into the bed.

Juno stared at the man as his alcohol-laden brain struggled to process what the fuck Peter had just said. Shifted? What did that even mean? He had a sudden idea of what it meant and licked Peter's face again to see if he wasn't hallucinating it not tasting like modeling gum.

The man made a disgusted sound and flopped his arm onto Juno, knocking him off his elbows. “Stop licking me, that's gross,” Peter drawled out while burying his face into Juno's shoulder. The detective licked him again.

Peter sputtered and flailed slightly and Juno laughed into the pillow, holding onto the mattress as the man started using his legs to push him off the bed. He fell off, but managed to pull Peter off with him, and the thief made a high-pitched sound of surprise and betrayal. They laid on top of each other, their legs tangled and the comforter half on top of them.

“Are you a shapeshifter?” Juno asked, almost whispering in the quiet after a few minutes of content silence. Peter hummed.

“I suppose you could say that.”

Juno stared at the man incredulously, but Peter was already slipping into sleep. Well, Juno guessed as he pulled the rest of the blanket on top of them, answers could wait until morning.

* * *

 It was morning.

Juno had a million questions and zero will to ask any of them.

He watched Peter come out of the bathroom with his face and height reset and casually walk with a slight stagger over to the coffee pot. Juno got up from where he was still laying on the floor and over to Peter and hugged the man. Peter made a sudden and violent, quiet sound of pain and Juno instantly let go of him and took a step back. He watched as Peter tensed and very slowly relaxed before facing his partner, his pupils flushed with pain killer.

“Ha, sorry about that, dear. Just…” The man trailed off. “Some aching.”

Juno gave Peter a blank stare. Peter rocked on his heels. They looked at each other and Juno felt his eyes starting to dry out when Peter finally spoke. “Well, uh, Juno?”

“Yeah, Nureyev?”

Peter swallowed roughly. “Do, do you remember last night when I told you I could shapeshift?"

Juno turned his body to lean on the counter, “Yeah,” he looked to the side and then back again to meet Peter’s nervous eyes, “that sure is interesting, huh.”

Peter laughed a small, relieved laugh. “It is, isn’t it.” Peter was now the one looking away before leaning against the counter and Juno, nearly draping over the short lady and resting his chin on Juno’s head. “I was concerned you might react badly,” Peter admitted and Juno maneuvered his closer arm around Peter to hold him closer.

“Hey, now,” Juno started. “That might be, uh, kind of weird and I have a lot of questions about it-

“-You wouldn’t be you without your questions-”  
  
“But,” Juno nudged the man nearly hard enough to topple him, “you’re still my dumb criminal.”  
  
Peter buried his face in Juno’s curls and made an embarrassed noise that sounded like a cross of an elephant and a strangled seal. It was adorable.

 

**Author's Note:**

> the basic au idea is that peter can shift his skeletal structure and, to a degree, the way his skin is (like wrinkles and how sharp his cheekbones are n other shit). but doing this causes a megawatt shitton of pain like, leg-growing pains but 100x worse and in a more shorter time frame. but idk yeah juno loves pete and pete loves juno and im gay  
> hmu @fan-art-ic on tumblr if ya wanna talk about au or tpp or other shit


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